Neil Armstrong Grants a Rare Interview to ... an Accountant

As the first human to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong is a popular target for interviews; a request that he almost never grants. So you can imagine why people are perplexed that he agreed to a full one-hour sit down talk with the head of the Certified Practicing Accountants of Australia.

The last taped interview that we could find Armstrong giving was this 60 Minutes piece from 2005 that Ed Bradley claimed was his first ever TV interview. (Though he was more available in the months following his historic trip.) This new video, which is available in four parts on the CPA Australia website, covers Armstrong's whole career and includes a lot of fascinating details of his historic trip to the moon. While he does not reveal anything particularly surprising or unexpected, space nerds will certainly get a kick out of hearing classic Space Race stories directly from one of its most important participants.

So why did the 82-year-old former astronaut decide to break his long silence just for a group of Australian accountants? It turns out his dad was an auditor. CPA Australia pitched him the idea as part of the group's 125th anniversary celebration and he went along with it. So we guess the moral of the story is, whether you're going to the moon or just want an interview, it never hurts to ask.

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